


The Unexpected Guest

by tsuki_llama



Category: Darker Than Black
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-S1, Siblings reunited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 03:42:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11843283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuki_llama/pseuds/tsuki_llama
Summary: Post-S1 AU in which Hei is settled and happy a couple of years after the Tokyo Explosion; then one day a young woman who looks exactly like his sister appears at his door...





	The Unexpected Guest

**Author's Note:**

> This is a scene from a larger work which I hope to someday write, but because it is quite extensive I have no idea if I'll ever have the time. But for now, this works as a one-shot!

“Outside,” Hei ordered in a tight voice. “Now.”

The girl nodded once. “You’re not sure it’s really me,” she said in the flat and emotionless tones of a contractor, the same tones that Hei had heard from her - from Bai - for five years. “I understand.”

She turned her back on him without a moment’s hesitation and walked out the door. Hei paused just long enough to lift his chef’s knife from the table before following.

The girl _looked_ like Bai: the same short, straight black hair pulled into a ponytail, the same blank, expressionless face. But there was something else; it took Hei a moment to put his finger on it, but once he spotted the difference it was obvious. There were a few stray strands of hair brushing her cheek, as if she’d put her ponytail up hastily and without the methodical care that Hei had seen her use every single day. Her shorts and tank top were a bit wrinkled, her shoes scuffed and worn; these clothes were more than just a costume, they were _lived_ in. And did she look a bit older? It was hard to tell. Either the impersonator had done a very sloppy job of it, or…

She stopped in the shade of a tree, twenty yards from the house, and turned back to face him. Hei halted as well, out of easy arm’s reach. He held the knife loosely at his side and made sure to keep his body between her and the front door. She gazed at him with her familiar, empty blue eyes.

Hei could hardly find the words to ask the questions that he needed to ask to guarantee that she truly was who she looked like. He could hardly _breathe_. It was too much to hope for, her being real. Her being real, and really here. She continued to watch him patiently, with a hint of uncharacteristic nervousness in the way she kept her weight over her heels. A defensive stance.

At last, Hei managed to say, “Tell me the last thing that you said to me.” It would be a tough question, but not impossible for an impersonator who’d done their homework to get right.

“Do you mean at Hell’s Gate, or Heaven’s Gate?”

He blinked. There was no one alive who knew that he’d talked to his sister in Hell’s Gate, no one except for Yin. “Heaven’s Gate,” he said, deciding to act like he’d _meant_ to ask a trick question.

“I told you _thank you_ ,” the girl answered, and Hei’s grip tightened on the hilt of the knife. That was wrong. She wasn’t - “But you never knew that,” she continued before he could make a move. “That was right before I used the meteor shard to fuse with you; Amber had frozen time. The last thing that I said to you, that you heard, was that I would see you when you got back. That was a lie. I knew you wouldn’t be coming back from that mission. I’m sorry I had to say that.”

Hei stared, his heart pounding. Well, she could make up anything that she wanted and say that she’d told it to him while he was under Amber’s power. And plenty of people had been around when they’d parted company and could have overheard her.

As if uncomfortable under his gaze, the girl folded her arms loosely. She hadn’t looked away from him for even a second.

“What was the last thing you said to me at Hell’s Gate, then?” he asked slowly.

At that question, her expression turned troubled, an emotion that he’d rarely seen on her. “I told you that I’d always be with you,” she said, before pushing on in a hurried, uncontractor-like rush, “and I meant it - I did. But then everything was dark, and when I opened my eyes you weren’t there, and I realized that I _had_ eyes, and a body again, and I didn’t know where you were or how to find you. I’ve been trying to find you ever since then.”

The pleading tone in her voice almost broke his heart all over again. “One more question,” he said hoarsely. He was so close to being sure, though he still didn’t dare believe it. “One more question. What was the one thing that I made you promise me?”

Her brow furrowed. “What? I - you made me promise never to shave my head.” She reached up and patted her hair awkwardly. “And I never did. But I still don’t understand -”

Hei hardly heard her. He’d already dropped the knife onto the wet grass and closed the distance between them, cutting off her words as he pressed her into a tight hug.

“It really is you,” he whispered. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

Her hands wrapped hesitantly around his back; she’d never gotten used to hugs, and eventually Hei had given up trying. But she was trying, now. “Me either.”

It was surreal. He wasn’t entirely sure that he hadn’t fallen asleep on the sofa, and was dreaming all of this. “How long have you been on your own, looking for me?” He hadn’t even thought to look for _her_ , would never have imagined that she could possibly have a physical form again.

She pressed her cheek into his shoulder, resting against his chest like she’d always done while paying her price. “Almost two years.”

Her price…was she even still a contractor? She still sounded like one, despite the new tinge of emotion that now touched her voice. “That wasn’t very rational of you,” he said. “Why?”

Her arms tightened slightly around his ribs. “It was….lonely, by myself. You were the only who ever cared about me. You and Amber. Besides, I made a promise to stay by you. And…I thought you would be happy to see me.” She lifted her face to gaze up at him, and he was shocked to see a glimmering of tears in her eyes, though they didn’t fall. “Are you?”

“I am.” He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, and smiled. “Of course I am. Do you want to come inside and eat?”

A faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth; she’d only ever smiled like that when she was watching stars fall. “Will you cook something for me, Brother?”

She’d never asked that of him before. Before, she’d always taken it for granted that he would fix her meals, and never once commented on the taste. “Of course, Xing. Anything you want.”

He retrieved the fallen knife from the dewy grass and led the way back to the house.

“It’s pretty here,” Xing said, gazing up at the cloudless blue sky. There was still only a trace of emotion in her voice, but Hei could tell that she was trying. “Can you see the stars at night?”

“Yes,” he said. “Lots of them.”  



End file.
